The invention relates to a method and system for reprinting documents associated with exceptions of multiple processed enclosing jobs, wherein the method and system involve combining the documents into one or more reprint jobs.
Mass mailings have become common in today""s society. Political, charitable and business organizations rely on such mass mailings to communicate effectively with their target audiences. Mass mailings, however, are cost-intensive in terms of both postage and the labor required for their production. Efforts have thus been made to automate mail handling processes to more efficiently print, sort and prepare mail pieces for postage to reduce the associated labor costs.
A typical automated mail handling system includes a computer system to prepare documents for printing, one or more printers for printing the documents, and an enclosing system, which includes one or more enclosing machines and a server, for inserting printed documents and other inserts into envelopes. More specifically, the computer system is used to create or establish multiple print jobs for printing, wherein each print job includes a plurality of documents. Each print job is then processed by a particular printer to create stacks of printed documents, wherein each stack may be referred to as an enclosing job. The enclosing jobs are then processed by a particular enclosing machine using a reference file, such as mail run data file, so as to prepare completed mail pieces.
During processing, however, errors may occur. For example, poor print quality may result in the enclosing system not being able to accurately read bar coding or other identifiers on certain documents. As another example, documents may be damaged or improperly inserted into envelopes by the enclosing system. As a result, a percentage of the mail pieces will not be successfully completed. Such mail pieces, or identifiers associated with such mail pieces, may be referred to as exceptions.
One method of reprocessing these exceptions involves polling the server after each enclosing job has been processed by the enclosing system so as to obtain a list of the exceptions associated with each enclosing job. Documents corresponding to the exceptions are then retrieved from the computer system, and a reprint job is created for each enclosing job. Each reprint job is then processed by a particular printer so as to create additional enclosing jobs. Each additional enclosing job is then processed by a particular enclosing machine using the same reference file that was used to process the corresponding original enclosing job.
Next, the server is polled after each additional enclosing job has been processed to obtain a list of exceptions associated with each additional enclosing job. An additional reprint job is then created and processed as necessary for each additional enclosing job. This process is continued until all mail pieces associated with each original print job have been successfully completed.
Because this method involves creating and processing at least one reprint job for each original print job, wherein each reprint job is a relatively small subset of a respective original print job, the method is time-consuming and costly to implement. Furthermore, if a particular reprint job does not contain enough documents to justify setting up the enclosing system to process the corresponding enclosing job, the enclosing job may need to be manually processed, which may include manually folding and enclosing the documents.
The invention overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art by providing an improved method and system for reprinting documents that were not properly printed and/or enclosed during prior processing of multiple enclosing jobs. The method and system are significantly more efficient and less costly to implement than prior art methods and system.
Under the invention, a method for reprinting a plurality of documents includes obtaining exceptions associated with multiple processed enclosing jobs; and creating a reprint job that includes documents corresponding to a portion of the exceptions, wherein the portion of the exceptions is associated with at least two of the processed enclosing jobs.
The method may further include sorting the exceptions by statement type. Furthermore, the step of creating a reprint job may include creating a reprint job for each statement type, wherein at least one of the reprint jobs includes documents corresponding to exceptions associated with at least two of the processed enclosing jobs.
Further under the invention, a method for reprinting a plurality of documents includes processing multiple enclosing jobs; obtaining exceptions associated with each of the enclosing jobs; creating a reprint job that includes documents associated with the exceptions; and processing the reprint job so as to reprint each of the documents.
The step of processing multiple enclosing jobs may include processing multiple enclosing jobs through one enclosing machine, or through multiple enclosing machines disposed at the same or different locations. Thus, the method of the invention may be utilized to effectively handle document reprinting for multiple locations.
Moreover, the step of processing multiple enclosing jobs may include processing at least one enclosing job that includes documents associated with another reprint job. Advantageously, then, reprint jobs and associated enclosing jobs may be processed in the same manner as print jobs and associated enclosing jobs so as to provide closed loop processing of exceptions.
Further under the invention, a method for reprinting a plurality of documents includes processing multiple enclosing jobs; obtaining exceptions for each of the enclosing jobs; sorting the exceptions by statement type; creating a single reprint job for each statement type, each reprint job including documents associated with exceptions of a particular statement type; and processing each of the reprint jobs so as to reprint each of the documents.
A system according to the invention for reprinting multiple documents includes a computer and an enclosing subsystem in communication with the computer. The computer includes instructions for obtaining exceptions for multiple processed enclosing jobs from the enclosing subsystem, and instructions for creating a reprint job that includes documents corresponding to at least a portion of the exceptions, the at least a portion of the exceptions being associated with at least two of the processed enclosing jobs.
The computer may further include instructions for sorting the exceptions by statement type. Furthermore, the instructions for creating a reprint job may include instructions for creating a reprint job for each statement type such that at least one of the reprint jobs includes documents corresponding to exceptions associated with at least two of the processed enclosing jobs.
The system may further include at least one printer in communication with the computer. Moreover, the computer may further include instructions for processing each of the reprint jobs so as to reprint each of the documents on the at least one printer.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the best modes for carrying out the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.